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Stories from the lives of athletes, all pressing toward the goal found in John 3:30; “He must increase, but I must decrease”

Kyle Gibson

Kyle Gibson is a professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. Outside of baseball, Kyle is a husband and father. Whether he is on the field or at home with his family, Kyle aims to bring glory to God.

Q&A

What effect does your faith have on your lifestyle?

I try to allow it to lead me in as many decisions as possible each day. By all means I am no where near perfect at this, but when it comes to how I act in my workplace, how I parent, and being a Godly spouse, I do my best to show the love of Christ as much as possible. I fail each day, but that is where having & leaning on God’s grace is so important.

Describe how your Journey with Christ began.

I was always going to church as a kid, but it wasn’t until baseball was not present in my life when I decided to really focus on my faith. When I was 15 I got hurt and needed surgery which was what allowed me to go to a youth retreat where I decided to follow Christ. So through a 5 month absence from baseball, God revealed himself to me and I realized how much more passionately I could live life not worrying about living up to worldly standards.

Who have been the mentors in your life? How did God bring these people into your life?

One of the mentors in my faith has been our FCA director at Missouri, Scott Ashton. He was the FCA leader at Mizzou, and was one big reason my wife and I were able to stay engaged in our faith throughout college. Another has been one of my best friends since high school Paul Galbraith. He is a youth Pastor in Greenfield, Indiana, and pastored me and my wife’s wedding. Not many weeks pass where we don’t talk at least once and catch up on how each of us are doing.

What does the Increase of Christ mean to you?

The increase of Christ has been something I have tried to keep front and center on my mind ever since PAO started calling it the Increase conference. I try to be mindful that in my life, inwardly and outwardly, Christ needs to be always increasing in importance and my desires need to be decreasing!

What is your life verse and why?

I sign Ephesians 2:8-10 with my autograph each time so I would have to say that is it. I like how it shares the gospel in the first verse, then goes into how we are created by God to do the important work he has set us out to do.